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pecking order

regular patterns of dominance (pecking, threatening, chasing, fighting, avoiding, crouching, and vocalizing) in chickens and other animals. This term has been extended to denote any (usually linear) sequence of authority, status, and privilege that prevails in some organizations and social groups. See also dominance hierarchy.

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Psychology term of the day

December 19th 2024

physicalism

physicalism

n.

1. the doctrine that reality is composed of matter and that mind is therefore reducible to matter. See identity theory; materialism; mind–body problem.

2. the view that all meaningful propositions can be stated in the language of the physical sciences and in operational definitions. See logical positivism; positivism. —physicalist adj.